GMAT Strategy

@kvcpk : well, your post makes me smile when stress starts to prevail my head.

I have been practising through verbal sets but surprisingly , in these sets my RC accuray is drastically low than normal. Partially I feel it is because of RC is on a different page and questions on another and in addition, the RC text is not organised . But I have nothing else better to practise and my aim is to train my brain with instructions learnt while discussing with Stacey . I am training my brain muscles to react appropriately in emergencies i.e. whenever a time consuming question or hard one comes on the way .

trying to cope with stress and to continue to practise some more questions to train especially for speed.

will put a note tomorrow again if any breakthrough in between happened.

cheers.

going to do whatever possible for speed.

thank you thank you Stacey.

It's hard . Quant 49, Verbal 23.

verbal screwed so badly (only 23) , my overall impression is questions were easy and was able to finish on time , did miss last one or two questions may be. though last RC also, I did a bit tooo fast. Highly disapponuted looks like it is not achievable (((((((((((( .

GMATMadeEasy wrote:It's hard . Quant 49, Verbal 23.

verbal screwed so badly (only 23) , my overall impression is questions were easy and was able to finish on time , did miss last one or two questions may be. though last RC also, I did a bit tooo fast. Highly disapponuted looks like it is not achievable (((((((((((( .

Have you given your actual test?

This is actual test.

It's harder to accept it .

But I sincerely thank you Stacey for your wonderful counselling , I wish I could contact you before. In quant , I did absolutely nothing at all, your counselling increased two to three points at least in quant and put me in comfortable situation. Number properties, inequality, probablity and sets are my fort so I see a question I used to do it . However, sometimes these questions can be trickey and kill your time. I skipped a question today after one minute, I made a right move.

In verbal, may be I was going too fast also sometimes, I have no idea what was wrong, I am wounded in this battle.

I think I should raise my target and re do it , but I have lost hope also at the same time, feel like it is not possible . (( .

Between , my level of english in general is very good , well, I do not have results to back of what I am saying .

Thanks Stacey. What would you suggest at this point about re-taking of the exam ?
What should be done and how ?

Do we have enough samples who have improved from 20s scores to 40s ? I looks like an impossible job .

Hi Stacey,

I read the complete thread. I have about three weeks time for my GMAT and am targetting 700+. These three weeks are off from work, so I can have around 8-9 hrs per day for studying. I would start with detailing my practice with GMAT books, then the results of full length tests minus the essays, then continue with stating my weakness and finally look for suggestions from you

I always timed my practice, however the time slots used to be 75 minutes solving the sums and then reviewing my practice sums.

Here are the results of my practice (over multiple sessions)
OG(11) - Data sufficiency -- 85% accuracy -- avg time 88 seconds ( Inequalities is the weak area)
OG(11) - Problem Solving -- 90% accuracy -- avg time 88 seconds ( Probability & Permutation/Combinations are the weak areas, Some geometry)
OG(11) - CR -- 76% Accuracy - avg time 106 seconds (Questions with Except)
OG(11) - RC -- 66% Accuracy - avg time 105 seconds (difficulty in dealing with passages other than science)

SC is my weakest section. I have accuracy of around 60% without time pressure and this drops to around 50% when timed. The main issue here is of understanding the concepts tested on GMAT and then effectively applying them. With reading on this forum, now i am able to narrow down to 2 options but unable to nail the correct one.

I am done with Kaplan Premier Program for all sections and Kaplans GMAT 800 with sections other than SC.

Essays :- I have a gist of what's tested in AWA. I have practiced writing some essays and have got them reviewed from a friend. Its not all that bad, I would say good enough to score around 4.5 to 5

Last week, I started taking full length GMAT practice [again without the Essays]

Test 1 :- Source (PDFs shared my friend) Quant 35/37 and Verbal 18/41 .. This is the first time I took Quant and Verbal together. It took its toll on me and wasn't able to concentrate in last 10 mins and ended up marking answers at random for last 7 in verbal section

Test 2 :- GMATPrep Quant 28/37 (Scaled 49) and Verbal 25/41(Scaled 25)..Score 620 (completed both the sections and guessed 3 Qs in RC in between at random, even without reading the passage. One of the three was correct)

Test 3 :- Source (PDFs shared my friend) Quant 32/37 and Verbal 24/41 (completed both the sections and guessed 3 Qs in RC in between at random, even without reading the passage. None correct this time)

I have the details of individual sections which went wrong in these tests. In summary,
1. Sentence correction 50% accuracy
2. CR and RC... was able to solve most of them correctly while reviewing. This implies I have timing issue particularly after going through Quant.
3. Quant - I manage to finish it well in time ( around 5 minutes to spare). I am trying to space it even more. DS is key pain area, got almost all PS correct.

I understand these score might be inflated as I have skipped the essays. Effectively with the discounted scores, I am nowhere close to my target. This has taken a beating on my confidence.

Key issues

1. Sentence Correction
2. Concentrating for over long periods of time


Further plan

1. Buy Manhattan SC - Edition 4 and go through the concepts and devote 50% of days preparation on SC (Timing + conceptualizing)
2. I have 4 full length tests from Kaplan and One for GMATPrep up my sleeve.
3. I have more than 10 PDFs test from where I can practice. These are the PDFs which claim to have actual GMAT sums but which might be aged out.

I believe that with your experience you would be able to guide me given my current status. Please suggest me specifically with respect to
1. Sentence correction
2. Practice more RCs from ?
3. Full length tests. Which ones should I look at to achieve my target?
4. Should I look to improve DS(Quant)? I have significant room in verbal. So should I utilize it completely for Verbal

Please feel free to point out any flaws in my approach


Thanks in advance,
Shailesh

She is on vacation but one thing very interesting : Your score and everything is just like me. Strange, how many people are in the same boat.

I have been eagerly waiting too to hear more from Stacey.


How did you find Kaplan Premium Online program by the way especially their RC and CR?

For SC, closeyourelf in a room and do this book couple of times. It is full of concepts , the best way is to do it slowly and digest everything with proper question practise.

Book I meant Manhattan SC 4th edition.

Thanks GMATMadeEasy for providing me information related to Stacey. I am eagerly waiting to hear from her after she returns from vacation.

In my view, Kaplan Premium Online program, is good. OG teaches you through practice Qs and detailing out answers for each and covers different types of Q. Whereas Kaplan teaches you through strategizing when a section starts and then the explanations for solutions are not as elaborate as OG. Though these strategies are good, one has to primarily train his mind to develop an instinct to solve the various sections.

When I read through the whole thread, I was able to relate a lot, hence i replied to this thread.

I will get started with Manhattan SC and would take corrective actions after i hear from the experts.

Thanks beatthegmat, for giving us such a platform to share details and learn from.

One piece of advise fro mmy mistake in real exam:

DO NOT CHANGE your strategy at last minute. In verbal, i decided to go too fast and as a result i was spending too less time in SC and CR and spending more time in RC. So overall gain was nullified but resulted in more incorrect questions I beleive.Decide your stretgy now and practice it over the time left and stick to it.